


Complete

by queenmidalah



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-05
Updated: 2013-09-05
Packaged: 2017-12-25 17:58:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/956043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenmidalah/pseuds/queenmidalah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Audrey shoves the two most important men in her life away after she is injured. It leads to truths and confessions on all sides, and a hope for a future none thought possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Complete

**Author's Note:**

  * For [isawet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/isawet/gifts).



> This so went in a direction I hadn't intended, but I still hope that isawet enjoys it all the same. :-D

A small smile tugged at the corner of Duke Crocker’s lips as the voices of Audrey Parker and Nathan Wuornos reached his ears. Glancing at the clock, it was later than normal for both of them to be together as the work day had ended. Even Duke’s had slowed down, most of the Grey Gull’s customers having already left for the night. The only person left in the place was the young girl he had hired as waitstaff. A small frown replaced the smile, puckering at Duke’s forehead as he heard the two get closer, paying more attention to the words being said.

“I told you, I am fine,” Audrey was saying as she walked up the steps of the deck that jutted out over the water outside of the Gull.

“You took a tire iron to the ribs,” Nathan was arguing. “And then rolled around on the ground with the perp until you knocked his ass out. I can see you favoring your side, you can’t tell me--.”

“I can and I am,” Audrey said. “I am fine.”

“Park--,” Nathan tried again as the two rounded the corner.

“Evenin’ Audrey, Nathan,” Duke interrupted. As soon as he saw Audrey’s face, he knew she was ready to take Nathan’s head off. The problem was, now that he got a good look at how she was walking, he was probably going to the join the fray of harassment directed at the blonde.

“Duke,” Nathan grumped.

“Evening, Duke,” Audrey said. “Wouldn’t be too late for the cook to make something, would it?”

“For you? Never,” Duke said. “Though maybe eating in is good. You could go up to your place, relax, maybe take something for your--.”

“Don’t you start too,” Audrey said, lifting a slender finger. “I am fine.”

“You are not fine,” Nathan growled.

“Normally I’d say anything to go against our good Chief Wuornos here to get a rise, but I’m agreeing with Nate,” Duke said. “You aren’t--.”

“I said I’m fine!” Audrey snapped. Duke straightened, taken aback at the loud snap, while Nathan’s jaw simply tightened in obvious annoyance.

“I have some leftovers upstairs, I’ll do with that,” Audrey continued. “If one of you follows me, I’ll shoot.” Giving neither man a chance to retort, she turned and started up the steps to her apartment. Unable to admit that she truly did ache, knowing her ribs were definitely bruised if not cracked, she took careful steps as she walked. If she allowed even a hint of the true pain she felt to show, both men would pounce and demand she head to the hospital.

Neither Duke or Nathan spoke until the door closed behind her.

“How long do we give her?” Duke questioned.

“Long enough to make her something to eat?” Nathan asked.

“And grab a shower,” Duke said. “It’ll distract her, and give us time to get in.”

“Get... how do you plan on doing that when she threatened to shoot us?” Nathan asked.

Duke gave him a smirk. “That’s why we wait until she’s in the shower. She won’t risk her gun getting wet, and I have a key.”

“I’m not even going to think about what you might do with that key,” Nathan said, his voice taking on a grumpy tone.

“I don’t kiss and tell, Wournos,” Duke said, a cheekiness to his tone. He turned to head into the Gull to make Audrey something to eat.

“Liar,” Nathan called after him and tried not to feel annoyance when his mouth quirked up when all Duke did in response was waggle his fingers at him over his shoulder.

~~

Audrey leaned her good side against the wall of the shower as she just let hot water beat down on her battered body. Her side was badly discolored already, something easily noted as she stripped out of her clothes. A part of her wanted to appease both Nathan and Duke by going to the doctor to make sure she didn’t have any broken ribs. However, when she shifted, while the muscles and skin tugged painfully from the abuse they took, nothing else shifted. She’d had cracked ribs before and knew what they felt like, so when she had gingerly tested her side, she was thankful to not feel the familiar pains she had experienced then. So bruised it was.

She felt the water finally starting to cool and knew it was time to get out of the shower. Her stomach growled, making her very aware of how hungry she was. Maybe she should have let Duke bring some food up for her after all. She wondered if she could head back downstairs, but it would also mean admitting to some form of defeat by giving into him.

Her emotions were all over the place of late, and now that she stood in her bathroom carefully drying herself off and dressing, it was moreso with her injury. Nathan was a constant, being both chief and partner, but he also hovered. She knew he felt something for her, and she did for him as well. However, there was also Duke. She knew _**he**_ felt something, and while she kept trying to push it away because of Nathan, she also knew that she felt something for him too.

How could you have feelings for two men at the same time? Especially when said men seemed to be polar opposites? Yet at the same time, it seemed as if the two fit together like a perfect puzzle she wanted to complete and be a part of?

“You are losing it, Audrey,” she murmured to herself. “Really losing it. Indecisive idiot.”

She paused as she opened the door to her bathroom, the strong smell of delicious food hitting her senses. She suddenly felt angry seeing those very men she had just been thinking of lounging on her couch in her living room, while suddenly feeling very self-conscious as she realized how little she had on, with fabric catching the still damp sections of her skin.

“I told you I would shoot,” she grumped at them.

“Good thing Duke suggested we wait to come up while you were in the shower,” Nathan said. She snapped a look to Duke. The pompous bastard merely gave a non-chalant shrug.

“You wouldn’t want to get your gun wet,” was all he said in return.

“What are you two doing up here?” Audrey asked. She tried to see if her gun was where she normally set it, oddly feeling like she really did want to shoot at both men.

“You won’t find it,” Nathan said once he noticed that she was not focused on them. “Not giving you opportunity to go through with your threat.”

“Answer the question,” Audrey said, her jaw twitching in annoyance.

“Since you decided to be all Nathan-like--,” Duke started.

“Nathan-like?” Nathan and Audrey both questioned.

“And ignore the fact that you were injured,” Duke continued despite their interruption. “We have taken it upon ourselves to ensure you are all right, that you eat, and that you rest.”

“I do not ignore when I am injured,” Nathan defended himself. “I just don’t always know when I am anymore.”

Duke gave him a look. “Nate, even when we were kids before your Trouble, you would put the stoicism of a statue to shame,” he said.

“You are a dick sometimes, you know that,” Nathan said.

“It’s all a part of my charm.”

“Are you two done flirting?” Audrey finally snapped, though she had to admit she also found it endearing. But she didn’t want them to know it.

“Flirting?” Nathan asked, his nose crinkling.

“Never,” Duke said at the same time. “And it only adds more interest when we can pull you into the flirting too.”

Audrey rolled her eyes and started to turn from them, but her abused muscles protested spectacularly and she cried out from the pain. Both men were on either side of her immediately.

“Want to tell us again you are okay?” Nathan asked.

“I am,” Audrey ground out, her eyes squeezed shut as she saw stars from the pain. “Just leave me be, would you?”

“No,” Nathan said, a soft growl in his voice.

“Just go,” Audrey said again, getting to her feet slowly, slapping at the hands that tried to help her. “I can take care of myself.”

“Well we know that,” Duke said. “But for once you can actually let us--.”

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me,” Audrey interrupted him. “Why does it even matter to you, Duke?”

She regretted the words the moment she said them, especially when she saw the pain in Duke’s eyes before they quickly shuttered in defense and she saw his jaw tighten.

“If you need to ask that, then you don’t know me very well,” Duke said. “But if you are going to be that damn stubborn, then fine.” He stepped back, glancing at Nathan as he started to speak up in protest.

“Don’t, Nate,” Duke said. “Clearly I’m not wanted here. It’s usually when you two are on the outs that I am, but this time I’m actually going to take the hint. Audrey, dinner is on the counter. Hope you have a good night.”

“Duke,” Nathan said, but the other man was already leaving. He winced as the door clicked very softly shut, rather than slammed. He turned to look at Audrey.

“Au--,” he started.

“You can go too,” she said, her voice hard. “I don’t need you either.”

He studied her a moment, searching for… well he wasn’t sure what, but something. Not finding it, his jaw tightened. He gave a curt nod. Unlike Duke, he had no issues with slamming things, but he didn’t say a word as he left, slamming the door shut behind him.

~~

“Duke?” Nathan called. He saw that the few customers that tended to linger until the very last moments the Gull was open were gone. Glancing at the clock on the wall, they must have scurried out if Duke was moving through quietly, but obviously not in a mood to be jovial. Waiting a moment, Nathan listened and finally heard Duke moving in the kitchen. He started towards that direction, but the other man soon emerged with two plates full of food.

“Might as well eat,” Duke said, heading towards a table in the corner. Nathan noted it was often the one they, as in he, Duke, and Audrey, normally sat at when at the Gull. It had a good vantage point of any comings or goings at the place if they needed to see.

“You okay?” Nathan found himself asking as Duke set the plates of food down. The other man didn’t say anything as he headed back to the bar to go behind it.

“You know, I should be used to her shoving me away,” Duke finally said as he got a couple of large iced mugs to pour beer from the taps. “The only time she seems to need me is when she wants something that you aren’t giving her, or you two are not talking.”

“It’s not just you she shoves away,” Nathan said. He wasn’t going to think too hard on Duke implying that he and Audrey could have something more based on one of the things Duke said.

“Maybe, but that’s a lot of shoving I can’t take anymore,” Duke said, bringing their utensils and drinks over. “Sit.”

Nathan immediately folded into the seat, not even thinking about it. He paused, realizing that it was something so natural and something he missed. Despite all of his animosity, and Duke’s schemes over the years, the two actually had an odd friendship. He had thought it officially broken as adults due to their very different thoughts on the law.

Until Audrey Parker came into their lives.

Now it just seemed that they were thrown into one another’s paths, reforging a bond that was just _***there***_ , but also creating tensions further because it was obvious both of them had feelings for her. Yet it also felt right when the three of them were together. It was confusing Nathan in a way he never thought possible.

“You looked a million miles away there,” Duke said, breaking into Nathan’s thoughts.

“Overthinking things, I think,” Nathan said, taking a seat at the table.

“Doesn’t seem to fail when it comes to Audrey,” Duke said, taking a bite of his food. “Find myself doing the same. Even after finding out about my own Trouble.”

Nathan glanced at him after taking a few bites of food. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“I know you hate your Trouble, because you can’t feel when people touch you,” Duke said. “But at least it’s something you can live with. I have this… pre-destined thing where I absorb others blood and become this… thing almost. I have no control of it anymore than you do, but at least with yours you are still you. For a moment, when the blood absorbs, I feel outside of myself. And then I find out I am supposed to use this… curse to end others for future generations. Only the only way I supposedly can do that is to kill someone who has it and has had kids.”

Duke vicious spiked a few pieces of his food with his fork. “I may not be as law-abiding as some may want me to be, but I’m not my father,” he said. “And I do not want to be a cold-blooded murder. Killing in self defense is one thing, even that is hard to live with. But…”

“You seem to be fighting it,” Nathan admitted. “Something I didn’t think you would do.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. You made that pretty clear,” Duke said, glancing at the other man. “But if not for Audrey, I probably would’ve given in.” He gave a harsh laugh, shaking his head.

“I am actually far more respectable than I ever was,” he said. “All because of Audrey.”

Nathan’s mouth quirked up at the corners. “Noticed that,” he said. “I’m more sociable because of her.”

“Hate to tell you this, Nate, but you were as sociable as a brick wall before,” Duke said. “Just sayin’.”

“Guess love does crazy things, huh?” Nathan said, eating his dinner.

“Who said--” Nathan cut him off.

“Duke, I’ve known you since we were kids,” he said. “We’ve had a weird ass relationship all of our lives, and if you remember, we even had a rivalry for Lucy’s attention as kids too. It’s something about her that connects us and something about us too. You feel for her the same as I do.”

“That doesn’t mean love is a factor.” Duke’s words belied his emotions merely by how he was shifting nervously and avoiding looking at Nathan. When he said nothing, Duke finally looked up at him. Nathan’s eyebrow was quirked towards his hairline and Duke threw up his hands.

“Fine, yeah,” he said. “I love her. But a lot of good it does me. She obviously is in love with you.”

“Not so sure about that,” Nathan said, picking up his beer to take a large drink from it. It burned his throat as he set it down, but he wondered if some of it was bitterness from having to admit this. “I don’t deny she and I have something, but it’s obvious the two of you do as well.”

“Not like you two,” Duke murmured in a very grumpy way.

“Only because she met me first,” Nathan pointed out. “And well… considering your unconventional means of profession versus her more law-abiding one.”

“What are you saying?” Duke asked.

“He’s saying that I have feelings for both of you.” That was a new voice that had joined them. Duke shifted to the side to look around Nathan as he turned to look at Audrey, who stood there in an old t-shirt that Duke had let her borrow one day after a rowdy fight near the docks and she had been tossed into the water. Beneath that were a well-worn pair of leggings, her feet covered by a pair of thick socks Nathan had gotten her.

“Right,” Duke said. “Because that’s possible.”

“Actually,” Audrey said, moving into a stance where her arms were wrapped around her. She winced slightly as her bruised ribs tugged with the movement. She shook her head when she saw both men stiffen as if to rise.

“It is,” she continued. She walked towards the men, noting how both rose and Duke grabbed a chair to add to the table.

“I… have a hard time letting people close,” Audrey said, gingerly sitting. “You should’ve known that from seeing how I act. I’ve never had anyone I was overly close to, so letting someone in is difficult.”

Audrey took in a deep breath, slowly letting it out. “It’s hard to admit to myself that I need anyone,” she said. “Be it friend or more than that.” She shifted her gaze to them.

“It became harder when I realized that I felt something more for both of you,” she said. “Not more than one over the other, just more. And I realized why it was so hard, because it felt right and wrong all at the same time. I knew that I would be told to make a choice, and I knew that I couldn’t. As selfish as that sounds, I can’t choose and I refuse to.”

“Who says you have to make one?” Nathan asked her quietly. She looked at him, her eyes wide. Even Duke looked at him shocked.

“Wh.. what?” Audrey stammered.

“Who said you had to make a choice?” Nathan said.

Duke crinkled his forehead into a frown as he looked at Nathan. “Nathan, are you suggesting we all…” He made a motion with his hands in a more sexual manner.

“Is it always about sex with you?” Nathan asked as Audrey’s cheeks turned bright pink.

Duke shifted and rested his elbows on the table, leaning forward slightly. “Let’s just put all our cards on the table as we have them, shall we?” he said. “You are in love with Audrey. I am in love with Audrey. If what Audrey is admitting to us is in fact what she is admitting, she definitely feels something close to love or could if she would stop shoving us away--.”

“I don’t shove you away,” Audrey protested, but Duke kept speaking.

“So what else would there be between us with a mutual love that you say is there? An agreement that the love is there, but none of us give in to it or touch one another and just hope for the best? Let’s also discuss the fact that until Audrey came to town, that you and I.” Duke waved his finger between his chest and Nathan’s. “Had a rather… angry relationship. Where does this leave us?”

Nathan shrugged. “Guess it’s just something we have to figure out together,” he said.

Duke straightened in his seat, his hands dropping to his lap. Squinting, he eyeballed Nathan. “Who are you and what have you done with Nathan Wuornos?”

“My point, ass,” Nathan looked over at Audrey. “Is that a decision doesn’t need to be made. Something pulls us all together, why fight it anymore?”

“But what will people think?” Audrey asked. “They will talk.”

“Let them,” Nathan said. “Considering the shit that goes down in this town, this would be mild.”

Duke slowly nodded and leaned forward again. He reached over to gently brush his fingers against Audrey’s arm to gain her attention.

“Nathan’s right,” he said. “The big thing is that you need to stop pushing us away.” He shifted his hand down, gently slipping his hand under hers. “We can take whatever Haven throws at us, but we need to do it together.”

“You two actually agreeing on something,” Audrey said, laughing slightly. “I never thought the day would come.”

Nathan shifted how he was sitting and reached over to take Audrey’s other hand in his. “Guess some miracles can happen,” he said. “But what Duke said is true. You need to stop pushing us away. Whatever we face, we face it as one.”

“Don’t we already?” Duke quipped, earning a grin from Nathan.

“You really want to see where… whatever this is between us goes?” Audrey asked, her eyes fixed on her hands in theirs before looking between them.

“If you do,” Nathan said. “We’ll figure things out as we go.”

“I do,” Audrey said, her voice soft.

Audrey’s fingers tightened on their hands. She didn’t need to say more, feeling them return her squeeze. It would take time and communication, but she felt more complete than she ever thought was possible. She didn’t know what they faced ahead of them, but she suddenly felt as if she could handle anything that came her way as long as Duke and Nathan were there to love her, and she them.


End file.
